NUMed Looks Back Over a Successful First Year

NUMed today unveils state-of-the-art facilities and provides a glimpse into the life of students who have now spent a full year at the brand new campus.

In a welcoming speech Provost Professor Reg Jordan spoke of his delight at the success of NUMed’s first year based on the Educity@Iskandar campus.

“Today is another important landmark for NUMed, our MBBS undergraduates are pioneers, they are the first students to complete a year on our fantastic NUMed campus; and they are also the first students to be based in EduCity@Iskandar. With September just around the corner, we will welcome what will be our largest ever intake of students and we will celebrate the opening of the International Student Village, we look forward to continuing our journey training tomorrow’s Doctors in Malaysia.”

Quality that doesn’t come at a price…

In 2011 when NUMed moved into the brand-new, cutting-edge campus in Nusajaya it became the first ever UK University to establish a fully owned international branch campus for medicine in Malaysia. The internationally acclaimed university, which is consistently ranked in the top five for medical studies, states is objectives are “to deliver cost effective medical programmes of the highest quality in order to meet the needs of both our students and the regional health economy.”

Currently NUMed offers the Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery (MB BS) programme which is equivalent to the MB BS course offered at the UK campus. It follows the same successful curriculum that has been developed by Newcastle University faculty with years of experience, yet its costs 60% of what one could expect to incur studying in the UK. It also offers students the chance to partake in short term periods of study in the UK and having completed the programme it is anticipated that students will be eligible for provisional registration as a doctor with both the UK’s General Medical Council (GMC) and the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC).

Numbers that add up…

By September 2012, when NUMed will welcome an estimated intake of 100 new undergraduates, there will be around 220 students studying across four years. There is a maximum capacity for 1,000 students at steady rate and as this population grows the teaching faculty will also be expanded to maintain the current beneficial student to lecturer ratio of 4:1. At present a third of the faculty are seconded from Newcastle University, UK, the senior management at the Malaysian campus have all had many years of association with the Newcastle Medical School and thanks to a carefully thought out succession plan this will also remain consistent.

Facilities that are best in class…

The modern 13 acre campus, which has been specifically designed to create the best possible learning platform for tomorrow’s Doctors, has been highly praised by the students. Highlights include two 200-seat presentation lecture theatres, a 100-seat Harvard Style demonstration theatre, 20 class rooms, two 50-place ICT classrooms, three well-equipped teaching laboratories and a library/information centre.

However as the next intake of aspiring doctors prepare to commence their university careers it isn’t just the exceptional NUMed facilities that they have to look forward to, they will be the first students to access the full suite of shared amenities on the multi-varsity EduCity site. There is no denying that the accommodation at the nearby International Student Village, and the physical and recreational complexes, which include a 5,000 seat stadium, an aquatic centre and an indoor arena, far out-class the facilities a single university could provide alone.